The present invention relates to an apparatus for storing, preserving and marketing, in proper hygienic conditions, orthodontic brackets and other consumer materials necessary for the application of orthodontic appliances to the teeth.
Orthodontic appliances are commonly used to align and or rotate the teeth to the correct position. Orthodontic brackets or braces, (hereinafter referred to as brackets), are applied on the teeth to support and direct the necessary corrective force and torque actions. The common procedure to apply the brackets starts with the eroding of each tooth surface on which the brackets will be applied by means of an acid substance. After the relevant time the acid is removed, usually by means of air-water blasts, and then the teeth are ready for application of the brackets. The brackets are applied one at a time and each individual bracket is removed by means of tweezers from a container or the like, in which the brackets are stored loose, so that using the tweezers or the like, each individual bracket has first to be rotated and/or positioned appropriately in order to be grabbed by the tweezers or the like. At this point, using separate glue dispensers or the like, glue is applied to the bracket and then the bracket is applied and properly positioned on the tooth. The same procedure is followed for each individual bracket and once all are applied on all the designated teeth, they are connected together by means of metallic wire or the like provided for the purpose, placing and fixing the wire on the bracket seats to generate the desired corrective force and torque actions on the teeth.
Conventional instruments, however, have their respective drawbacks. Instruments such as tweezers for handling and placing the bracket, air-water syringes for cleaning the tooth's surface, little brushes for applying the acid and the glue, and the like instruments, entail much time, cost and trouble to perform the bracket application, causing much inconvenience to the patient and to both the doctor and his/her assistants. This is mainly due to the manual skills, work effort and low efficiency that are implied with the existing instruments. There is a high risk that a bracket may be accidentally dropped with consequent loss, increased bracket handling, impaired cleanliness and time lost in general.
For example, when a bracket is to be pulled out from the bracket container and applied on the designated tooth, it is difficult to grab, hold and pull out each individual bracket as well as to release and place it on the designated tooth. This occurs as a consequence of having brackets housed within a container or the like with no specific position and orientation and having instruments such as tweezers, bracket containers and the like, which are all separate and individual instruments. In this case, there is the above mentioned risk with the related consequences and also a statement of fact that existing instruments and the like are not user-friendly and do not allow any possible automation of the bracket application on the teeth.
The conventional method is based on a variety of many elementary instruments, and the like as above mentioned, and is also based on many containers, dispensers, and the like, for brackets and consumer materials. This means that, to apply the brackets to the teeth, much time is required and there is also an increased risk of each individual bracket being dropped during the various phases and passages before it is finally applied on the teeth.